Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Tuesday formally announced plans to build a second fab in Japan. The fab will be run by Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), a majority-owned TSMC subsidiary, and will make chips on 6 nm and 7 nm-class process technologies, which will make it the most advanced semiconductor production facility for logic chips in Japan.
JASM is currently gearing up to start operating its first fab in Japan. This semiconductor production facility — set to be formally opened on February 24 — will be able to process up to 55,000 300-mm wafer starts per month (WSPM) using TSMC’s 40 nm, 28 nm, 22 nm, 16 nm, and 12 nm-class process technologies. This fab is set to serve needs of JASM’s minor investors, such as Sony, Toyota, and Denso, and other Japanese companies, such as automakers.
The new N6 and N7-capable fab will be located adjacent to JASM’s upcoming fab in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. This facility will increase capacity of the site to over 100,000 300-mm wafer starts per month when it begins operations by the end of calendar 2027, according to TSMC. Capacity of the fab may be adjusted based on demand and other factors.
The initial Fab 23 that is coming online in the coming weeks or months was designed to address needs of Japanese companies like Sony and Toyota and ensure that they do not run into shortages of various commodity chips vital for their products yet not requiring advanced process technologies. The second fab, which is set to adopt 6 nm and 7 nm class process technologies will be able to produce considerably more sophisticated processors and will bring these production nodes for the first time in Japan. Essentially, the announcement of the new fab indicates that JASM is poised to slowly by surely catch up with TSMC’s leading-edge fabs in Japan.
To build the new fab, owners of JASM will invest additional money in the venture and their total investments in the site will exceed $20 billion with ‘strong support from the Japanese government,’ TSMC said. As a result, JASM will be able to produce chips for a wide range of applications, including automotive, industrial, consumer and HPC-related applications.
Under the new investment agreement JASM’s ownership will be divided as follows: TSMC will hold the largest stake at 86.5%, followed by SSS at 6.0%, DENSO at 5.5%, and Toyota at 2.0%.